Dunst wins WSOP's $777 NLH 6-Handed event

(PRESS RELEASE) -- On Tuesday night, the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online Event #21: $777 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed attracted 849 players who rebought 512 times. The 1,361-entry field generated a $952,700 prize pool and after nearly 11 hours of play it was World Poker Tour commentator Tony Dunst emerging victorious to capture a $168,342.09 first-place prize and his second career bracelet.

It marked the second bracelet win for Dunst, who back in 2016 won the WSOP Event #63: $1,000 NLH for $339,254. Last year he nearly won his second when he finished runner-up to Carl Shaw in the 2019 WSOP Event #89: $5,000 NLH for $374,886, and back in January he also finished second in the WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley $3,250 High Roller for $30,305.

According to HendonMob, Dunst has more than $3.8 million in lifetime live earnings including a career-high $700,069 for finishing second in the 2016 Aussie Millions. In 2013, Dunst etched his name on the WPT Champions Cup, which today renamed in honor of Mike Sexton, the man Dunst replaced. Dunst won the WPT St. Maarteen $3,500 Main Event for $145,000.

It also marked the fifth cash on the online series for Dunst, who finished third in Event #1: $500 NLH Kickoff for $57,881.

After Mark "bansman" Bansemer bubble the tournament in 207th place, the in-the-money bust outs came at a rapid pace and included Jamie "DanBilzerian" Kerstetter (206th - $1,047.97), Landon "ActionDealer" Tice (133rd - $1,333.78), Phil "Lumestackin" Hellmuth (114th - $1,429.05), and Ryan "protential" Laplante (99th - $1,524.32), who was cashing his eighth tournament in a row and 13th cash overall.

Others to fall before the final table were Jason "haderade" Somerville (87th - $1,619.59), Ryan "bitc0in" Riess (60th - $2,000.67), Vanessa "ContainsNuts" Kade (55th - $2,000.67), Ari "phil-ivey" Engel (39th - $3,429.72), Daniel "DNegs" Negreanu (30th – $5,144.58), Katie "azulciel" Stone (16th - $8,288.49), and final table bubble boy Randy "StayAlive" Ohel (7th - $19,244.54).

Dunst began the final table with a big chip lead and immediately set about building upon it. First, he used king-jack suited to outdraw Jon "havuuuuuc" Turner's ace-nine, and then he woke up with pocket kings after Krista "Pollux" Gifford had jammed her short stack with king-ten. Gifford flopped a gutshot straight draw but missed to fall in fifth place.

With four players remaining, Dunst sat with more than 13 million while his three competitors were all under 3 million. James "paymycollege" Pace then absorbed the short stack of Charles "ilosestackz Phillips" when ace-ten held against jack-eight after an ace appeared on the flop.

With three players remaining, Alec "Tango_Bravo" Parslow got his last 4.1 million all in preflop with ace-king suited only to get outdrawn by Dunst, who hit a runner-runner straight with his ace-nine. That allowed Dunst to take a 13.1 million to 7.3 million chip lead into heads-up play against Pace.

The stacks were close to even when the defining hand played out. Pace wound up with a seven-high straight while Dunst, who was the shorter stack by just a hair, had a spade flush to double. Pace was left with less than a big blind, doubled it, and then went bust the hand after that running six-three into aces.

(Article courtesy of World Series of Poker)